General Question

Does every living room "have" to have a TV in it?

I had this idea to remove the TV and create a different kind of space. For example place a huge dining room table in the living room, but also keep the sofa’s and seating. My plan is to make it more entertaining. Meaning a place where people can gather to eat and chat. But if I do this, is removing the TV also removing the fact that I want to entertain friends? I obviously do not have a dining room. Plus the TV takes up too much space. So it would cover both functions. How important is a TV in the living room anyway? Also any great tips to help would be appreciated. In order for guests to like being there and having a nice time.

A family TV makes sense because its big enough for the whole family.
There’s no reason to have small TVs throughout the house. Why do that? It makes no sense at all, because those small TVs can be replaced by computers.

And if you’re going to waste time all by yourself, it’s real stupid to watch a Television, when a computer can do everything the TV does plus more. (And with the same shows, and minus the commercials, with bigger variety, and no stupid cable bill).

Maybe what you could do is put it on wheels and then when you really wanted to watch a movie or play a video game or something, you could just roll it out and it wouldn’t have to be ever-present.
Watching TV is okay every once in a while, but I would rather just hang out and talk.

A living room for entertaining friends need not have a TV. Any smaller room can be a den with a few chairs and a TV set. The more we move TV out of the centre of our lives, the more or a life we’ll discover we have.

Really I think the only thing you can do is test it out and see what people think. You can’t know how people are going to react until you try it. How often do you use the TV when guests are over anyway? Do they insist on it?

I agree with @MrGeneVan about a flat-screen TV and that it can be put on the wall (if you are willing to do that). In my house, the living room doesn’t have a TV, but that’s because we also have a family room that does have a TV.

Not everyone has a TV in a living/lounge room, some have a dedicated media room – it is becoming more common with new houses nowadays. We have a TV in the family room and the gym., and just a sound system in the living room. (We also have a half dozen computers that we can stream TV to if required.) We don’t really watch much TV since the last of the kids left home. We get the news on-line and so only watch a few favourite shows – usually old re-runs on cable.

Don’t you like your dining room anymore when you moved your dining table?. I think each room has its own specific function. If you really want to move your dining table make sure your living room isn’t that cramped too accommodate that table,cramped room isn’t a funny room. And also,TV isn’t the only instrument that will provide fun in your living room. Replace your big TV with small radio/music recorder,or else won’t be a bad idea. But TV too is important itself. Not only it can provide fun,but also can act media of socialization and interaction as it reunite people when watching exciting movie.

I’m doing this without Justine’s OK, so direct any anger my way and not hers and the question to the answer is very NSFW, but it is funny. The other question we were posting to is Dibley’s question Ladies how do you feel about this taste. Our posts were at the end.

this has come up recently… growing up, we always had a den – which was the tv/family room, a living room – which was where we would all gather if there was company and either the den was overflowing or if there was company that was over and we weren’t watching tv. it had a couch and a chair and was at the opposite end of our dining room with a bar inbetween. i don’t understand why people call dens living rooms!

it depends on what the vibe you are going for is…. i find that tv distracts conversation flow so i wouldn’t put the tv in the room where you’ll be entertaining company.

I don’t have a tv in my living room. The only one I have is in my bedroom. Television is not allowed to intrude on my life, and it would certainly detract from any conversation I wanted to have. Have you noticed that people automatically look at a tv? This indicates a lack of attention to anything else imo, and I refuse to put up with it in my own home.

A living room doesn’t need to have a TV to be a living room. (A fireplace and some Johnny Walker is all I need anyway haha.) It’s a place to get together and relax with family, on your own, or with friends.
Granted having a TV pretty much defines this by today’s standards but it ain’t the only way to take a load off and relax. Your idea sounds perfectly fine to me.

I think the TV in the living room is pretty crass and uncivilized. Ditch that sucker. Throw it out the window. Our TV is banished to the far corners of the house. Our living room is for living. Not zombieing.

We have our TV on a rolling cart in our combination family/dining room, which is just off the kitchen. There are two recliners and three sets of shelves with craft stuff and books, plus my laptop cart at one end, and the dining table and chairs at the other end.

The living room is set up like a library at one end, with a reading light and chair, a giant library table, and a dictionary/encyclopedia reading stand and a wall of bookcases. The other end is Hubby’s office, with a large corner desk, a side desk and two console type filing cabinets.

Safety note: The rolling cart for the TV is a large industrial size cart with good strong wheels, because toddlers and babies spend a lot of time in the family room. The small TV carts sold in stores can tip over and severely injure children.

No, of course not. We all actually control the TV, it doesn’t control us. Many people seem to have forgotten that. I do have a TV in my living room, sort of. My house has a combined living room/dining room and there’s a little 13” TV on a shelf, about halfway in between, but sort of more in the dining room than the living room. You should decide where to have a TV and where not to have a TV, it’s that simple.

Some people don’t have TVs. I don’t know any of these people. They are the few, the proud, the uneffected lol. It wouldnt be a good idea though. Sometimes theres an emergency and TV can broadcast a warning. Such as a tornado.

TV’s don’t entertain..people do! Unless you plan on having a weekly movie night at your house, then you’ll need a dedicated room. Otherwise, an uncluttered, easily navigable room with some eye-candy (photos, paintings, etc) do wonders. How else are all of you gonna play a game of Twister?